The British Ellie Goulding he had left us three years ago with Brightest Blue, a highly introspective and personal double album. If in the first part a certain degree of vulnerability was elicited and a theme of slow rebirth was developed, in the second part the more fearless and sparkling side of the artist exploded. Starting from these last elements, his new studio album takes shape, Higher Than Heaven.
This album wasn’t drawn from personal experiences, and it was such a relief not to be sitting in the studio going over all the things that have happened to me and influenced me Because I feel things so deeply (…) It’s my less personal album, but I think it’s (also) the best because I got to explore other things about myself. I really enjoy writing, I really enjoy being a singer
Ellie GouldingRS
Fun, glittery and solid, Higher than heaven is positioned in the comet wake of the new EDM (the collaboration with a king of the subject like Calvin Harris just precedes the release of the album) drawing now from the power-pop of Dua Lipa, Miley Cyrus And Ava Max now from a lingering dance-electro aftertaste to remind us that Sophie Ellis-Bextor And Kylie Minogue (but also Random Access Memories) are always around the corner.
It is pure mainstream and the formula works and, thanks also to Goulding’s distinctive vocality, it is perfectly adequate for a narrative which, albeit openly impersonal, speaks of toxic relationships, painful separations, rebirths and hope. Everything works.